Page 5

I swallow hard as I’m flashed back to the short moment when I thought I was going to be a dad.

I hadn’t felt that kind of happiness in.

.. well, ever. I’ve always wanted a family, and the idea of having my own had brought me more joy than I realized it would. Then Arella told me our baby was gone.

I’ll never forgive Jodi for all the things she’s taken from me.

First, my parents, even though she claims she didn’t cause the explosion.

Then she kidnapped Arella, killed my unborn child, and murdered my dad in front of me.

Selfishly, I wish Jodi hadn’t died. She’s now free of the demons that turned her into the monster she was, instead of suffering with them like I am.

I keep my feet moving as I ask, “Am I right to assume that this isn’t the first time an Ordinary has gotten pregnant with our kind?”

Without hesitation, Mia nods. “Yes. While it can happen, it doesn’t happen very often, and very rarely does the baby grow to term.

Even when Ordinaries reproduce with other Ordinaries, one in every four pregnancies ends in a loss.

When it comes to Ordis reproducing with Zordis, losses happen ninety-nine percent of the time. ”

“So what you’re saying is that the chances were pretty high that we would have lost our baby anyway?”

Another nod. “Most likely.”

I’m not sure if that information is comforting or depressing.

If the zovernment knows that only one in every hundred pregnancies between our kinds grows to term, that means it has happened enough times for them to have gathered that statistic, which means Mia probably knows the answer to my next question.

“When those babies are born, are they half Zordi?”

Mia side-eyes me with a slight smile creeping onto her lips. “Are you asking because you’re wondering if Miss Rance is part Zordi?”

“The idea has crossed my mind.”

“Like I said, it’s rare for a Zordi and Ordi baby to grow to term, but when they do, they’re born as one or the other—never both. Miss Rance is full Ordinary, which means it is in your best interest to stay away from her.”

I open my mouth, about to ask the question that’s burning in my mind, when Mia throws her hand up, palm forward.

“No, Mr. Grant, we cannot unscrub her.” The way this woman knows what I’m about to ask before I ask it is a little unsettling.

“Do you realize that your situation was one of the biggest scrub jobs the zovernment has had to do in decades? This wasn’t like erasing the memories of all the people at an Ordinary school when a Zordi child got too emotional and lost control of their powers.

This wasn’t a situation where someone simply used their powers in public, thinking no one was around. Your situation was much more than that.

“Your face was plastered all over the news as a kidnapper. Even people who lived out in the middle-of-nowhere Montana heard about the man who disappeared and took his ex-girlfriend with him. People were looking into your criminal history and your past, and your fans went wild on social media. If we didn’t erase all evidence of this incident from the Internet and alter everyone’s memories, you would have come home to news reporters on your front lawn, waiting to get a statement.

The FBI would have gotten involved, which comes with the risk of exposure, so we did what we had to do.

“Most importantly, we did this big scrub to protect the Immune. We couldn’t allow her face to remain plastered all over the news. If there’s attention on her, it’s only a matter of time before the Royals discover her again and try to use her for her immunity.”

I guess that’s a positive. If the world doesn’t remember Arella, that means the Royals don’t either. That means she’s safe.

“Do you know what makes her immune?” I ask as I turn around to head back toward my car.

Mia follows me. “I don’t.”

I give her a narrowed look.

“You don’t have to believe me. That doesn’t change the fact that the zovernment doesn’t have an explanation for her immunity.”

From the tiny waves of calmness I’m sensing from Mia, I think she’s telling the truth. Now it’s time to ask the other question that’s been burning on my mind. “Why didn’t I get scrubbed?”

“Because if you forget everything that happened, how will you ever learn to never make those mistakes again? Need I remind you, Mr. Grant, you had an illegal relationship that resulted in high-level exposure and nationally televised news.”

I throw my arms up, letting them flop to my sides. “So what am I supposed to do now? Just move on with my life as if I never met her?”

“That would be the wisest decision, yes.”

“But she’s my soul mate,” I say as if it’ll change anything.

“That’s a small price to pay to avoid all the chaos that comes with worldwide exposure. Think of this sacrifice as your duty to our people.”

That’s some bullshit. I feel no sense of duty to the Zordinary community. The only thing I feel is a need to be with Arella, but she’s with that other guy, which reminds me... “Who’s that guy who claims to be her boyfriend?”

Mia sighs heavily. “For the record, I was against replacing you in her memories with another man, but the Scrubber insisted it was necessary. Apparently, the memories you created with her became such deep core memories that they were quite hard to fully erase. Therefore, the Scrubber altered them to reflect someone else.”

A light flickers on in my chest. If Arella’s memories run that deep, maybe there’s a chance I can get her to remember me.

“May I ask you a question now?” Mia asks.

“Sure,” I say through a sigh.

“Did Miss Rance ever feel the glimmer?”

“Is it possible for her to?” I thought the glimmer was something that’s unique to only Zordi bodies.

“It is possible. Despite what you’re taught, a soul-mate connection is not something that’s limited to only Zordis.

Ordinaries with Ordinary soul mates can sense when their partners are in danger.

Their symptoms just aren’t as severe, and they usually ignore them.

However, if an Ordinary makes a soul-mate connection with a Zordi, they will experience the glimmer like any other Zordi does.

And before you ask, no, we have no idea why that is.

We can only assume that because one of the soul mates on that connection is a Zordi, the glimmer affects the Ordinary the same. ”

“So what you’re saying is that the glimmer exists between both our kinds, but we Zordis just have a stronger connection to it?”

“Yes,” Mia says with a firm nod. “Actually, that’s a great way to put it. I’m going to use that at my next meeting with the other execs.”

“To answer your original question, no, I don’t know if she ever felt glimmer-like symptoms. If she did, she never mentioned it.”

The glimmer exists to warn us that our soul mates are in danger when we’re not around them.

It’s not as strong when we are already with our soul mate when something bad happens since we already have that knowledge.

Whenever something bad happened to me, I was already with Arella, so if she did feel anything, she was too busy fighting off ice balls to pay attention to it.

“You realize that this is cruel, right?” My words come out partly angry and partly choked. “You’re aware that Arella is my soul mate, yet you guys scrubbed her, and now you’re telling me to just forget about her.”

“What’s done is done, Mr. Grant.”

Well, fuck me then.

When I return to my car, Liz perks up, ready to hear everything. “So? How’d it go?”

I put my car into reverse and back away from the guard booth. The whole time, Mia watches me from outside the Escalade, as if making sure I’m actually leaving.

It’s not until I’m at least a mile away from the prison that I say, “Basically, the Keeper said I’m shit out of luck and that I need to move on as if none of it ever happened.”

“What? But Arella is your soul mate.”

“That doesn’t matter to them. They only care about keeping Ordinaries from knowing about our world.”

While I drive us back to LA, I go into some details about my conversation with Mia. The whole time, Liz is quiet while she takes it all in.

Once I’m done, she says, “I think we both know you’re not gonna stay away from her.”

I chuckle humorlessly. “You know me too well.”

“So what are you actually gonna do?”

My answer comes easily. “I’m gonna get her to remember me.”